


The Moon Told Me So

by DreamersMyth27



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Reincarnation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-12
Updated: 2018-02-12
Packaged: 2019-03-17 09:04:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,566
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13655811
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DreamersMyth27/pseuds/DreamersMyth27
Summary: Jack Frost had gone missing. He didn't know he was missing, but he was. Then he turned fourteen again.





	The Moon Told Me So

On the night before Draco Malfoy's fourteenth birthday, he dreams. It's not a normal dream by any means, filled with monsters and fairy tales, as well as a little boy named Jamie, missing a front tooth.

Something about the dreams are strange, different. Normally Draco is fairly skilled in controlling where his dreams go, making them bend to his will, but these ones don't want to listen. They are wild, free, like frost creeping up a window pane. He doesn't like it.

It's only when the strange scenes recede that Draco finds himself more in control, not just seeing everything, but able to move. He's sitting on the side of a pond covered in ice. The whole place is surrounded by trees and snow. For a moment, Draco thinks he's alone.

"Hey, you!"

Draco's head snaps up, and suddenly, he notices the boy sitting next to him. This boy isn't like any other. For one, he isn't sitting on the ground, but is instead balanced on the top of a staff. That isn't the most curious thing about the boy though, what is, is the fact that he looks just like Draco.

Well, not just. This boy has white hair, and skin so pale, with just enough of a bluish tinge, that it makes Draco think of the time he received frostbite. He doesn't wear robes either. Instead, he has raggedy brown slacks, and a blue tunic. He has no shoes.

"Who are you?" Draco demands, because this is his head, and his dreams. He won't let them be invaded by this strange person, even though they are just a figment of his imagination.

"I should be asking you the same thing," the boy retorts, jumping off his staff, and grabbing it in his hands. "You're in my dreams."

"No I am not," Draco snaps. "You're in mine."

The boy tilts his head, and suddenly his face is uncomfortably close to Draco's. The strange boy does something completely unexpected as Draco scrambles back: He smiles.

"I know what's going on," he says, grinning like a fool. "You're me."

"What?" Drace snarls, because he will not stand by these insults, even in his dreams.

"You're me, and I'm you. We're the same person, but we're not," the boy explains. "I'm Jack Frost, and you're-"

"Malfoy, Draco Malfoy," Draco interrupts.

"That's what you think," the boy- Jack- winks. "You're Jack Frost too. Or at least, you will be, once you get our memories back."

"You're delusional," Draco say sharply, walking away from Jack and out onto the pond.

"No, I'm not."

Draco raises an eyebrow at the sudden change in tone, and turns around, looking Jack in the eyes.

He looks quite sad, and for the first time, Draco wonders if maybe there's some truth to what's being said.

A sharp crack startles Draco. He sees Jack's eyes go wide, and follows the boy's gaze to the ice. Three large cracks appear in it, and before Draco can say anything, he plunges into the freezing water.

As he sinks lower and lower into the water, he stops fighting, and slowly, darkness tunnels his vision. Just before his eyes close for good, he hears the faint echo of a voice.

"Our name is Jack Frost. The moon told us so."

***

Draco Malfoy shoots up in his bed, gasping for breath. Memories of sinking, dying, cold,- _cold, darkness_ \- fill his mind. He reaches his arms out, blindly looking for help, for a way to breath. Then he realizes he can.

Draco cracks his eyes open, and they dart around his room. Nothing is different. He's still alive. He didn't drown. It was just a nightmare. A strange, terrible, nightmare.

Then stars explode in his vision, and he remembers.

He remembers his little sister- _Penny_ \- skating with him. He remembers playing games with her on the ice. He remembers his life hundreds of years ago when he had brown hair and brown eyes. He remembers, _he remembers_ the day the ice started to crack. He remembers pulling Penny to safety, and falling under the ice himself.

He remembers the cold- _darkness, death_ \- that came. He remembers waking up, with no memories and the moon telling him his name- _Jack Frost._

He remembers being alone for so long, and then children. He remembers the Guardians, and fighting Pitch Black. He remembers Jamie being the only person to believe. He remembers Jamie being the _first person_ to see him.

He remembers defeating Pitch Black. He remembers a few weeks later, when he was with the other Guardians, and something got a hold of Toothiana. He remembers jumping on the thing's back, and freezing it with ice. He remembers being stabbed.

He remembers the darkness coming back again. He remembers dying.

He remembers the Man in the Moon whispering _"Come back to us when you are ready."_

He remembers everything.

He was stuck, human, until he turned the age he died in the first place. He isn't Draco Malfoy, he's Jack Frost. But who is that? He remembers it all, but he also remembers being raised by his parents. He remembers calling Hermione Granger 'Mudblood', a word spat out in hate, a hate he is now uncomfortable with.

Something is wrong, because he knows this shouldn't be possible. Draco Malfoy knows this shouldn't be possible. But he's not Draco Malfoy anymore, is he? He's Jack Frost, but stuck in a human body.

But, as Jack Frost, he doesn't know what to do either. He isn't sure who he is. There are over three-hundred years worth of memories of being Jack Frost, and only fourteen of being Draco Malfoy, but both are real.

Hesitantly, he steps off the bed and walks to the window. Just as slowly as he walked to the window, he reaches up to touch the glass pane with his fingertips, waiting for the frost to come.

Nothing happens.

He takes his hand away from the window and stares. He can't be Jack Frost if he isn't able to make frost, right? That means he really is Draco Malfoy, just with the memories of someone else in his head.

It isn't that simple though. He is Jack Frost, just as he is Draco Malfoy. The question is, are both of them real, or is he going crazy?

***

Hermione Granger prides herself on being clever. It's one of her distinguishing traits. She's the cleverest witch of her age, and not afraid to flaunt it. Sure, she seems a bit stuck up at times, but it's not on purpose. No matter what though, she is the cleverest witch. That means she notices things.

She notices Draco Malfoy.

He's always been a git. A two-faced attention seeking brat. But… But this year he's different. Of course, it's only two weeks into school, so she could be wrong, but she doesn't think so.

Draco Malfoy hasn't bullied anyone yet. He hasn't called anyone names. Not Harry. Not Ron. Not her.

She hasn't seen him during meal times, except for the feast right after the sorting. He didn't even whisper among his friends then, only stared at the table with furrowed brows.

Now that she thought about it, at the Quidditch World Cup he'd been different too. Yes, his father had been quite nasty to them all, as well as his mother, but he simply kept his head down, eyes flashing with something akin to pity.

There is something different about Draco Malfoy. And Hermione Granger is determined to figure it out.

She isn't expecting to figure it out in a library of all places.

It's been a fairly quite start to the school year, barring the announcement of the Triwizard Tournament that is. Hermione enters the library like usual, and before long she has several large tomes, perfect for reading up on house elf rights. Just as she pulls another big book off the shelf and steps back, she feels herself bump into someone, and the both of them go tumbling to the ground.

She can feel her face turning red, and scrambles to grab her books, and the other persons. Once she has all hers gathered, she snags the last book off the ground, one labeled _Strange Muggle Figures and their Origins_. She looks up, and holds the book out.

Draco Malfoy gives her a small, lopsided smile, grabs the book from her hand, and walks away before she can say anything.

***

Hermione enters the common room chest heaving, completely out of breath. She needs to tell Harry and Ron what she saw.

Her eyes roam over the scarlet colored room, and she finally spots them slumped on the couch directly in front of the fireplace. She rushes over and plops down in between them.

"Oi!" Ron exclaims, lifting a half-written essay off his lap.

Hermione waves her hand. "That doesn't matter right now."

Now that gets their attention. _After all,_ she thinks grudgingly. _I'm the one always insistent about homework._

"Guess who I just ran into in the library?" she asks.

Ron's face pales. "It's not Hagrid, is it? I'd hate for him to have another dragon."

Harry shudders at Ron's words.

"Not Hagrid," Hermione said. "Draco Malfoy."

She waits, but neither Harry nor Ron seem to be as shocked at this news as she expected.

Finally, Harry says hesitantly, "He's a student. He's probably studying."

"Yeah, Hermione," Ron agrees. "I mean, even I've seen him in the library before. It's not big news."

Hermione huffs, and crosses her arm. "Didn't I tell you, I ran into him. We bumped each other and fell to the floor."

Ron's eyebrows furrow in confusion, but Harry's have become wide in understanding.

"He didn't hex me. He didn't curse me. He didn't call me a mudblood. He grabbed the book I held out to him, and smiled. Then he walked away."

"Wait," Ron says, something akin to incredulousness layering his voice. "You bumped into Malfoy, and he acted like a normal human being?"

Hermione nods her head triumphantly. "And want to know what else? He was looking at a book about muggle history."

The gobsmacked expressions Harry and Ron give her are priceless, but it doesn't talk long for them to both become serious.

"Invisibility cloak?" Harry asks.

"Invisibility cloak," Ron and Hermione agree.

***

About ten minutes later, all three of them and hidden under the cloak. It's a bit squashed, but other than that works quite well. Almost the second they reach the library, Hermione pushes to the front of the cloak and leads them towards Draco.

He's sitting at a table loaded with books, and now that Hermione looks at them, every single one is about muggle fairy tales or history. Draco himself is looking passages over in one of the books,and every once in a while scribbles something furiously onto a scrap of parchment.

By some silent agreement they've reached, no one makes a noise or moves under the cloak, even after Draco falls asleep. Once he is snoring though, they do whisper among themselves.

"Books about muggles. He's up to something, and we all know it," Harry says. "But what?"

Hermione shakes her head. "I don't know. Maybe… Maybe he lost a bet or something, and has to look it all up?"

It's a weak idea, and all of them know it, but it's the best idea they've come up with so far.

"I don't think so, Hermione," Ron says. "I've been forced to study and look stuff up." At this point, Ron shoots Hermione a friendly glare. "But I'm never that interested or excited about it."

"I don't know if excited is the right word," Harry says thoughtfully. "More like, apprehensive."

"Yes," Hermione agrees. "Apprehensive."

She watches Draco's sleeping carefully for any sign all their talking is waking him up. It's not. In fact, he doesn't look like he's going to be awake until morning.

"Do you think we should leave?" Ron asks. "It's getting late, and I don't think he'll wake up any time soon."

Hermione nods.

"Yeah, let's go. If we're caught out of bed at this time, we'll be in major trouble," Harry says.

Just as they all turn around to leave, Draco makes a small noise. Immediately all of them freeze, then slowly turn back towards the sleeping teen.

Draco is moving, just slightly, but enough to tell he's dreaming. It looks to be something pleasant; his face is crinkled in a grin. He starts to mumble something, but all any of them catch are the words 'Ice skating', and a name, 'Penny'.

Then his face scrunches up into a frown. He starts to move a little more, jerking like he's being choked.

All three of them watch on in horror, unable to do anything to help. None of them like Draco, but no one deserves to have a nightmare as horrible as the one he seems to be having.

Eventually his face smooths out, and if not for the faint rise and fall of his chest to show he's still breathing, he could be dead.

All of them reach a silent consensus to leave, and start to as well. Then Hermione trips on Ron, who lands on Harry, who falls onto the ground with a loud thump.

Draco jerks up, and his blue eyes look directly at them.

The invisibility cloak has fallen off.

***

When Jack is awoken by a loud thump, he sits up, and stares at three teenagers splayed out on the ground. He nearly jumps for joy when he notices them looking right at him. So now they believe in him too?

Then everything else comes floating in. He's not Jack. He's not Draco. Or he is, but he doesn't know which one is really him.

He knows who they are too. Harry Potter. Ron Weasley. Hermione Granger.

They must have been keeping an eye on him. Hermione probably told them that he'd smiled at her earlier, and that he was reading a book based on muggle things.

He can't bring himself to be angry. They were just doing what they thought was best; keeping an eye on a bully.

They look like they expect the worst from him. Yelling, maybe. Calling a teacher, probably. Calling them names, most definitely.

He decides to surprise them.

"Hello."

They stand up quickly, staring at him with their mouths open like fish. Finally, Harry seems to gather courage, because his mouth snaps shut, and he steps forward.

"What's wrong with you?" Harry asks, almost harshly.

He sighs tiredly and bangs his head onto the table. He can almost imagine the gobsmacked looks they'll be giving each other now that he performed an action so mundane, so un-Dracolike.

"Nothing's wrong with me," he finally says, because there's only so much silence he can take.

"Yes, there is. Tell us." Hermione demands.

He lifts his head from the table and shoots them a glare. It's not a very good glare. He's tired, and his eyes are rimmed in black and blue from long nights awake and nightmares.

"Why?" he asks. "Why do you want to know whatever's wrong with me? We're not friends. I don't like you. You don't like me. You don't want to know what's wrong to help. You just want to know."

He would sound almost exactly like his old self, that is if his voice hadn't had a note of desperation that the Draco Malfoy part of him hates, and the Jack Frost part is trying to use to get help.

Harry, Hermione, and Ron all exchange glaces full of surprise. Finally, Hermione says, "We'll try to help, Draco."

He flinches at his name, something that none of them miss.

"You know," he says conversationally. "I'm really sorry for how I acted in the past. I would take it all back if I could."

This shocks them into silence again. It's pretty out of character for him to apologize like that, or at least, it's pretty out of character for Draco Malfoy to apologize like that. But he's not Draco Malfoy right now.

Finally, he says in the silence, "If you really want to know what's going on, meet me at the top of the Astronomy Tower at midnight tomorrow."

***

The tower is tall, and the air is cold, but it doesn't bother him as much as it should, he thinks. Maybe it's a sign that he really is Jack Frost, not some spoiled school-boy. Whatever the case though, he's waiting at the top of the Astronomy Tower.

The moon is full tonight, and something about it makes him wish the Man in the Moon would answer him, because he's been trying to get an answer since he got his maybe-memories back. Apparently the Man in the Moon doesn't want to talk.

It doesn't seem fair; here he is a normal boy, well, as normal as the Wizarding World could ever get, and he doesn't know if it's real, or a lie. What if he is Jack Frost, but Draco Malfoy is real too? What if the Man in the Moon put Jack inside Draco, and now they're two people trapped inside one body?

Well, he's pretty sure that last one isn't the case. He doesn't feel like two people. There's only one person here, a confused-about-who-they-are person, but one person.

He's so busy with his internal dialogue that he doesn't even notice Harry, Hermione, and Ron arrive. In fact, he doesn't notice they're there until Hermione asks him a question.

"What made you grow a heart?"

It's harsh, but it's probably what he deserves. Or what Draco deserves?

Harry and Ron flinch, not out of sorrow for him, he's sure, but because of the callousness of those words.

He sits back down on the edge of the tower, and stares at the moon again. "I deserved that," he says quietly.

No one disagrees with him.

"So, you want to know what's going on?"

"Yes, _Draco_." This time Hermione says his name slowly, like she's testing his reaction. He flinches.

"You probably won't believe me," he warns them, turning around and seeing the three of them sitting on the stones. "But please, _please_ ," he begs. "Just listen. No matter how crazy it sounds. Don't interrupt. Just listen."

The three of them nod, and he looks back to the moon.

From there he spins a tale. One of a boy named Jack who lived with his mother, father, and sister Penny. He tells them how Jack lived in a small town in America over three-hundred years ago. He tells them how Jack saved his sister from cracking ice, but fell in himself and died.

The he gets to the truly magical part. He tells them about how Jack woke up, but didn't remember anything about his life. He tells them about how the Man in the Moon told the boy his name was Jack Frost.

He tells them about how Jack had a staff he would carry with him, and that Jack discovered no one could see him. He tells them all about Jack's adventures wandering the globe for over three-hundred years.

He tells them about how Jack caused Jamie to lose a tooth, and how Jack became a guardian. He tells them about how Jack helped defeat Pitch Black, along with help from Jamie, the first mortal to ever see Jack.

He tells them how Jack saved Toothiana from something, and got hurt badly. He tells them about how Jack died. He tells them the Man in the Moon promised that Jack would come back.

He finishes the story there, waiting for the inevitable question that will be asked.

"What does that have to do with anything?" Hermione asks sharply.

He sighs. "Everything."

He doesn't continue at first. But then he does. He gathers up the courage and slides back into the main area of the tower, right in front of them.

"I remember being Jack Frost, but… I also remember being Draco Malfoy."

There is a profound silence. Their faces are surprisingly blank.

He glares at them. "I know you think I'm crazy, but that's the thing, I could be! I don't know if me remembering living as someone else for over three-hundred years is curse, or it's really happening! I remember every day of being Jack Frost, but I also remember being Draco Malfoy! But what if it's not real? What if Jack Frost isn't real? Or Draco Malfoy? What if neither of them are?"

And suddenly tears of frustration fill his eyes. This isn't fair. Why is it happening to him? He's a pureblood. But then thoughts come telling him it's not fair it's happening to him after all the work he did defeating Pitch Black. Which train of thought even belongs to the real him?

Finally Hermione speaks up.

"I think I know a spell that could help us figure out if this is real or… Something else."

His gaze snaps to her, as does Harry and Ron's.

"I have a book for it in the common room. I could go get it?"

He launches himself at Hermione and wraps her in a tight hug. She finches violently. He knows this must be unsettling, after all, Draco never hugs anyone. But he wasn't Draco or Jack right now. He was just him. And he wanted to hug her in thanks.

She withstood his tight grip for a few moments longer before prying his arms off.

"I'll be right back." And with those last words, she was gone.

He sits in the silence, looking at his hands. Even though Draco's body is pale, it doesn't even approach what Jack Frost's body was like. He isn't even sure if he should think of them as his bodies. What if neither of them are his?

"What was that all about," Harry asks out of the blue.

He looks away from his hands and straight into Harry's eyes.

"What was what about?"

"You hugged Hermione!" Ron exclaims.

He tilts his head. "And…"

"You don't like Hermione!"

He thinks carefully about his next words.

"Draco doesn't like Hermione," he finally settles on. "I'm not Draco right now."

"So," Harry asks nervously, "Who are you then? Jack Frost?"

He shakes his head vehemently. "No, I'm not. I'm just, me I guess? I don't know who I am. I mean, I remember being Draco, and he was awful. Then I remember being Jack, and he was fun. I'm not either right now because I'm both?" He scrunches his face up. Why was this so hard to explain? "It's like, since I remember how I grew up as Draco Malfoy, I can understand how he would act, but since I can also remember how I was as Jack Frost, I understand how he would act. So I'm not acting like either of them would, I'm acting like me."

He's quite proud of his explanation, and gives both Harry and Ron a friendly smile. They seem unsettled by it.

The rest of the wait passes in silence.

When Hermione comes back, she wastes no time in opening a thick, leather bound tome and flipping though it. In now time, she seems to have found the page she's looking for.

"This spell will allow Harry, Ron, and I to enter your mind. If you're just going crazy, or someone put a spell on you, we'll be able to see. It'll look different in your mind that memories do," Hermione explains.

"Well then, what are you waiting for? Hit me with your best shot?"

Hermione's mouth dropped open in a perfect 'O' of surprise.

"Did you just…"

"Yes, yes I did," he says quite happily.

Harry and Ron share a confused glance with each other. Ron opens his mouth, but before any sound can escape, Hermione says "I'll explain later. Now gather in a circle around Draco."

He cringes, but doesn't correct her. How would it sound if he said he didn't want to be called either of his maybe-names?

Hermione lifts her wand up, performs a complicated movement, and whispers " _intra Est_."

He closes his eyes, then he feels a sudden pain, like he's been punched in the gut. His eyes shoot open, and he sees the familiar faces of Harry, Hermione, and Ron standing over him, looking worried.

"What, what happened?" he asks, head spinning. This is when he realizes he's laying on the stone floor of the Astronomy Tower.

"We went inside your mind, and it was…" Hermione made a face that looked to be somewhere between confusion and disbelief.

"It was bloody brilliant, mate!" Ron exclaims. "Your memories are so cool!"

Dimly, he wonders when Ron started calling him mate.

"You aren't crazy," Harry says. "You were telling the truth, about it all."

He sits up so fast his head starts to spin again. "What?"

"You aren't going crazy," Harry repeats. "You really are, were, will be? Jack Frost. But you're also Draco Malfoy."

"What I don't understand," Ron begins. "Is how someone as amazing as you were then, acts like you did the past few years."

"Ron!" Hermione says sharply, then turns to him. "What he means to say is that it's a little… surprising."

"Tell me about it," he says. "So, friends?"

They all look at him blankly, and for a moment, he worries they'll still hate him for how he acted.

"Friends," Harry says firmly, grasping his hand and giving it a shake.

Hermione and Ron follow Harry's example, and shake his hand. Once that is done, they all collapse onto the floor.

"Are you going to stay mortal?" Hermione finally asks.

"I don't know," he replies. "The Man in the Moon hasn't told me yet."

"So ask him," Ron says matter-of-factly. "It a full one tonight."

He huffs a laugh, but listens to Ron all the same.

"Hey, Moon, could I ask you if I'm stuck as a mortal forever?"

There's no reply, just as he expects.

_All you have to do is ask me, and you'll be an immortal again._

He jumps in surprise.

"What happened? Why did I come back as a mortal, with a whole new life? Isn't it unfair to this body's parents?"

Harry, Hermione, and Ron look at him in shock, then back up at the moon.

_Draco Malfoy's parents were not going to have children. You needed to come back as a mortal before becoming yourself again. It made them happy, and you were happy as well. They may lose you, but they had years with you already where they would have had none._

"And me? Who am I? Jack Frost is real. Draco Malfoy is real. I've been both of them. Who am I now?"

_That is up to you._

He didn't say anything further. Finally Hermione broke the silence.

"So, who are you? Draco Malfoy, or Jack Frost?"

Ron and Harry listen eagerly. He takes a moment to think about his answer.

"I still don't know."

Hermione smiles, and takes his hand, then she grabs Ron's. Ron Grabs Harry's, and Harry grabs his. Soon they are all laying in a circle on the Astronomy Tower floor with their hands tangled together.

"You can be someone new," Hermione whispers.

And that, that sounds good enough to him. He's certainly not Draco, not anymore. But all these years of not being Jack, he's not Jack either. But that's all okay. He'll figure it out as he goes.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I know this isn't any of my other fics. I'm really sorry for that. I'll explain everything later, so don't worry.
> 
> I was watching Harry Potter earlier today, the saw Rise of the Guardians, and this is what happened. I wrote 5,000 words and stayed up till 2 in the morning just to finish. Oh well, at least it's good.
> 
> Don't forget to leave a review and tell me how I did. It was only my second time watching RotG, and I want to make sure I did an okay job.
> 
> A few important notes for the story:
> 
> I am saying Jack was 14 when he died.
> 
> I've made his sister's name Penny.
> 
> You'll notice that after he regains his memories, Draco/Jack doesn't use either name to describe himself. It's a little confusing to read, but I felt it was necessary to show and validate his issues with discovering who he thought he was is a lie.
> 
> The spell Hermione uses to enter his mind is 'See Mind' in Latin.
> 
> I may write a continuation of this at some point, I have a few ideas, but for now, this is strictly a one-shot. I am, however, open to ideas people would want to see in a continuation.
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or Rise of the Guardians.


End file.
